We landed in Incheon Airport, South Korea. We were hungry. We invested in a few snacks for the bus journey to our onward destination. We were half asleep and overwhelmed. Choosing snacks was not high on our list of prorities. It was not a well thought out decision. We paid with our fake looking, recently exchanged money and found our way to the bus pick up point.

Twenty minutes later, we tried our drinking yoghurt, it was all be hoped it would be. We moved onto the chocolate bar which was not a disappointment, sweet and tasty as expected. Lastly, we tore open open our extra large bag of crisps. Some call them crisps, some call them potato chips, but very few call them fishy. Without a second of hesitation we dived in, each of us threw a handful of oddly, shaped potatoey goodness into our mouths. It turned out there was less potatoey goodness and more of a bottom of the ocean type of flavour taking control of our taste buds. My tactic was to chew quickly, swallow and chase them with a healthy dose of water and vow to not repeat the exercise. He, however decided to give the fishy snack a second chance. And a third and fourth. Then his time came. He joined me in defeat.

Our mistake? We did not look at the image on the front of the packet. It wasn’t until we had munched our way through a third of the pack that we held up the bag for inspection. It did indeed have an enormous creature of the sea (potentially an octopus but one could not be sure) covering the entire front of the bag. The crisps had not been lying to us, they were an honest product. It must have been our post aeroplane haze that had led us to believe they could be salt and vinegar or cheese and onion flavoured. My hasty threats to sue the crisp manufacturers for false advertising were quickly retracted. It was the first wake up call of many, that signalled we were in a new country. This meant new food, new flavours and new adventures.

I still strongly disagree in fish flavoured crisps. It is a outrage. My crisp eating, sensibilities fall under boring when it comes to flavours. Other disagree and embrace the ‘fishiness’ like our good friend below. He is bonkers. His taste buds may or may not be defunct.